Stretched
by IamNyssaDaughterofHephaestus
Summary: "Do you ever feel... stretched between two worlds?" Jason asked. Percy sighed again. "Yes." Chapter 2: ""What are you so worried about?" Reyna's head snapped up, and her eyes met Annabeth's.
1. Stretched

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series...

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_"You've changed, Percy!" Annabeth pushed him away as she stormed out the door, leaving him standing alone in the middle of the room._

Percy slammed his fist into a wall. He didn't care about the pain that jolted up his wrist. He didn't care that he could hear his Roman friends calling his name. He just needed to get away, to clear his head. His mind felt cloudy, like it had before he regained all his memories. _"You've changed, Percy."_ Annabeth's words echoed in his mind. "_You've changed._" Why was she so angry? He punched another wall. They hadn't seen each other in months. Now she was accusing him of not being the person she once knew and love. He punched a wall again, ignoring the crunch and the fact his hand was throbbing. He had walked so far he had ended up at the lake. The lake, water. A place where he could finally think clearly. A place where he could make sense of his twisted life.

He went to the shore. It was empty except for a boy who was skipping rocks across the surface of the lake. He was about as tall as Percy. He had blonde hair and was wearing a purple shirt. Percy walked over. Surely he wouldn't stab his Praetor. Percy had every intention of giving it back to Jason, but they never really got a chance to talk...

"Hey." Percy greeted the boy. He turned to face him. The boy had electric blue eyes and a scar on his lip. He regarded Percy with curiosity. Percy had the feeling he had seen this boy before. Then it hit him.

"You must be Jason Grace." Percy said, holding out his hand.

"And you must be Percy Jackson." Jason replied, shaking it.

Jason turned back to the lake. He picked up another rock and threw it at the lake. Percy could see his frustration and anger as he released the rock with more force than before. Jason then walked back and forth, his hands on his forehead, as if he was trying to clear his mind, just like Percy was. He then sank the floor, proceeding to sit down and stretch his legs. It was like life had completely exhausted him. Percy sat beside him. Across the lake they could see families having picnics and children playing under the blue, sunny sky. He sighed in longing. Why couldn't his life be that carefree?

"Do you ever feel... stretched between two worlds?" Jason asked Percy, his tone solemn.

Percy sighed again. He was a demigod: part human, part god. He was naturally split between two worlds. He was stretched between the mythical world and the mortal world, between a normal teenager's life and the life of a hero. Most recently, he was stretched between the Romans and Greeks. Percy was part of both groups now.

"Yes."

Jason threw another rock. "They think I've changed. They think I turned soft because of my time with the graeci (a/n: plural form of graecus)." Jason laughed, but it was brittle and void of life.

Percy gave him a sad smile. "My friends think I turned cold and hard."

"Sometimes I wish the switch never happened." Jason said with uncertainty, as if he wasn't sure how Percy would react.

"Then the Romans wouldn't distrust me and Reyna wouldn't hate me." Jason continued.

Percy glanced at him, feeling as sorry for Jason as he was for himself.

"Maybe she's just mad."

Jason sighed. "Mad that I abandoned her along with the whole camp?"

"If anything... Camp Half- Blood is probably mad that I abandoned them." Percy's heart sank as he said that. All his friends, hating him. _Especially Annabeth, _a voice in his head whispered, _she hates you the most. _"Especially Annabeth." he muttered under his breath. Horns blew behind them. It was time for the Senate meeting.

The boys got up and started hurrying to the Pomeranian Line.

"Reyna doesn't hate you. She never believed you were dead, never gave up on you. She's probably just mad about you dissapeared and made her worry so much."

Jason stopped in his tracks. Percy slowed to a halt. "Maybe..." Jason's eyes filled with joy as he thought over what Percy had said. Percy took off the purple cape and toga.

"This is yours." he said, shoving the clothes into Jason's arms. Percy moved to run, but Jason grabbed his arm.

"Annabeth probably feels the same way Reyna does. She went insane looking for you."

Percy smiled. "Thanks, Grace."

Jason pulled on the toga and cape. "You might not be so bad after all."

"Back at you, Jackson."

Jason grinned, then frowned. "Now all we have to do is get Romans and Greeks to like each other."

"That will be fun." Percy's eyes widened. "We're probably late."

Jason looked at the statue of Terminus in the distance.

"Race you to the Pomeranian line?" Jason asked with a grin.

Percy grinned. "You're on."

They took off running, and Percy thought, just maybe, the Greeks and Romans had a chance of getting along after all.

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**A/N: I was thinking of the cover of the Mark of Athena with them fighting and all, and was inspired to do a brotherly moment between the two, considering that the Greeks and Romans are probably going to fight. Should I do a one shot about Annabeth and Reyna bonding?**


	2. Different but the Same

Disclaimer: I am still waiting for MoA.

A shout out to all you lovely reviewers, favorite-rs, and followers. You guys are amazing.

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**Different but the Same**

_"You've changed, Percy!" Annabeth pushed him away as she stormed out the door._

Her vision was tainted red, and angry tears were streaming down her cheeks. She wasn't supposed to act like this. Annabeth was acting... irrational, unwise, illogical, ridiculous... and nothing like herself. That stupid, idiotic son of Poseidon, making her act like this. The rage spread like a wildfire through her veins, and all she wanted to do was slash at her problems and watch them dissolve. Maybe she would punch Percy, while she was at it. _Percy_. A lump formed in her throat. Annabeth was so angry, but every time she thought of him, all she could see was Percy's face as she stormed out the door. His sea green eyes, filled with confusion and hurt. Confusion and hurt, caused by _her._

She flinched as she marched out of city limits. Where were the temples? The gods were absent; but maybe, just maybe, one of them could help her. She wasn't desperate enough to pray to Hera. She would _never _be desperate to enough to pray to her. Annabeth knew that it was necessary, to kidnap her boyfriend, take all his memories and then send him to a Roman camp that would have killed him if they had realized he was Greek. It didn't mean she was happy about it.

Annabeth looked at the hill. The temples were magnificent. She could easily spot the temples that belonged to Pluto, Jupiter, and Mars. There was another temple, a lighter shade of red then the temple of Mars. Annabeth read the inscription. _Bellona... Goddess of War... All meetings about foreign wars were held in her temple..._ Maybe looking at the architecture would take her mind off _everything_, at least for a little while. She walked into the temple, her footsteps echoing in the empty silence. It was filled with statues of what Annabeth presumed was Bellona, holding various empty weapons. The ridged columns had round edges, suggesting that... Annabeth froze. There were footsteps. There was someone behind her. Annabeth pulled out her knife.

She whirled around, the tip of her knife at landing pointed at someone's throat. That someone also had a knife at her throat. Annabeth's opponent had her long dark hair in a single braid and hard but piercing eyes. She was wearing a purple toga, with Roman armor, and Annabeth was sure she had seen her before. The pieces clicked together soon enough.

Annabeth put away her dagger. "You're Reyna. One of the Praetors."

Reyna sheathed her knife, also, but cautiously, as if she expected Annabeth to attack her. "You must be Annabeth." she said stiffly.

"Look, I'm sorry about..." Annabeth started to apologize about Circe's Island. Part of her didn't want to; They had turned her boyfriend into a _guinea pig_ for gods sake! Then again, she released the pirates that destroyed their home. "Save it." Reyna said stiffly, sitting down on the temple steps. After a few moments, Annabeth sat beside her. The view was amazing. From here she could see New Rome, gleaming in the sunlight, and Camp Jupiter, filled with soldiers, the fields of Mars... Then she noticed the way Reyna was acting. She was slouching, her dark eyes filled with torrents of emotion: anger, confusion, frustration, and just a hint of relief. Her shoulders were filled with tension. "What are you so worried about?"

Reyna's head snapped up, and her eyes met Annabeth' was a battle of wills, Reyna's cold brown against Annabeth's blazing grey. They glared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, brown broke off. Reyna slumped down. Right now, she looked nothing like the stong, stoic leader of Camp Jupiter. She looked like an exhausted teenage girl who had to carry the weight of the sky. Both of them were like rubber bands, stretched far beyond their limit by the universe. They still haven't snapped. At least, not yet. Annabeth sighed.

"Jason seems the same, but different..." Reyna said.

"And you're afraid that he's not the same boy you knew." Annabeth completed. She could relate. That was one of her biggest fears. The first two, one being that Percy was dead, the second one: Some Roman girl had replaced her. The third? That he wasn't her Seaweed Brain anymore, that he wasn't _Percy. _She was afraid that he would end up being some cold Roman, and not at all the boy she knew. Reyna was feeling the same way.

"What was Jason like? Describe him as you knew him."

Reyna looked at the blue sky, almost wistfully. "He was... an idiot."

Annabeth laughed, but it was small. "An idiot?"

"And annoying." Reyna huffed, "Persistent, a good swordsman, a leader. He was cautious, controlled."

Annabeth smiled. "Jason hasn't changed at all. Except for the annoying part. He probably got more annoying."

Reyna snorted, and Annabeth could swear there was a new light in her eyes.

"Tell me about Percy."

Annabeth tapped her foot on the step below her.

"He's... reckless, impulsive, obtuse, goofy..."

Reyna laughed. "Goofy? I can picture that."

"Sweet, witty, loyal... and a Seaweed Brain."

"I doubt Percy has changed. If anything, he has grown more perceptive."

The sweet relief of a weight being lifted from her shoulders fills Annabeth's heart.

A few minutes of comfortable silence passed. Annabeth was thinking about Percy, and she had no doubt that Reyna was thinking about Jason. Reyna suddenly whistled a four note tune that sounded oddly familiar.

"Is that Rue's whistle?"

Reyna looked at her with a surprised expression. "You like the Hunger Games?"

"It is an amazing series and movie."

She smiles. "Gale's hot."

Annabeth looks at Reyna incredulously. That was the last thing she ever expected to hear from her.

"Peeta's hotter."

They both break out in a full force laughing fit, and Annabeth can feel the pull on both their rubber bands loosening.

Annabeth and Reyna- Greek and Roman, Athena and Bellona... Different but the same. Even if the last one was an oxymoron.

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A/N: Wow, this is really late. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Hope the quality makes up for it.


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